Who to pick for the Sorare Global Cup next stage?

What an exciting World Cup it has been so far. A typical World Cup can feel like a marathon, but this one feels like a sprint. Great football by the underdogs and favorites underperforming. A political drama about nothing and everything. Heartbreaking injuries and mesmerizing goals. With the group stages (almost) over, it's time to have a look at your Sorare roster for the Global Cup and pick a few new players for the team.

The rules are simple. You have the opportunity to add four new players with a budget of 50 points, and you can do this on three different occasions:

Before the Round of 16: Nov 29 - Dec 3

Before the Quarterfinals: Dec 3 - Dec 9

Before the Semifinals: Dec 9 - Dec 13

And you get to keep every player as a common card to play in the common league after the World Cup is done, something to keep in mind.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the 'left' bracket of the tournament 'feels' easier to get farther in the competition.

The Netherlands - USA (Saturday 3/12)

Without convincing the nation, the Dutch team qualified for the eighth-finals of the World Cup and criticisms of the Dutch media ensued. We'll need to wait till The Netherlands meet a strong team to get a real feel of their worth in this tournament and the USA might be the challenge. The ambitious young team USA has been performing with enthusiasm and good football and is not done yet. This group is resilient and puts enormous energy into every match and in the process, they play pretty good football or 'soccer'.

Our picks and their score on average in the last three games:

GK	Andries Noppert	66 points
GK	Matt Turner	65 points
MID	Frenkie De Jong	78 points
MID	Davy Klaassen	67 points
FW	Cody Gakpo	73 points
FW	Christian Pulisic	​66 points

England - Senegal (Sunday 4/12)

Even without their most important player, Sadio Mané, the Champion of Africa has advanced to the knock-out stage in the tournament. They'll have a hard time competing with England. England has been a team with two faces in this World Cup so far. Which team will face Senegal? The outstanding 'bulldozer' we saw against Wales and Iran or the mediocre team we saw against the USA? Needless to say, they have a World class team and a World class bench, and a high probability to advance to the quarterfinal.

Our picks and their score on average in the last three games:

DEF	Kalidou Koulibaly	61 points
DEF	Harry Maguire	68 points
MID	Jude Bellingham	66 points
​FW	Harry Kane	63 points

Argentina - Australia (Saturday 3/12)

Surprise motherfucker! The Socceroos reached the last 16 of the World Cup for only the second time in their history. No one would have given a cent for Australia's chances to get out of the group stage. And even less after the masterclass France gave them in the first game. Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi!

Rest easy, football fans. Messi will grace the World Cup stage at least one more time and if we look already a bit further in the tournament, we see a possible 1/2 final position appearing. Still on course for the cup.

​GK	Matthew Ryan	55 points
GK	Emiliano Martinez	51 points
DEF	Harry Souttar	62 points
DEF	Nicolas Otamendi	67 points
MID	Enzo Fernandez	64 points
MID	Alexis Mac Allister	74 points in two games
FW	Lionel Messi	76 points

France - Poland (Sunday 4/12)

The defending World Champion France had been impressive in the first two games in the group stage. So impressive that they could field a reserve team in their last match and still win the group. The scores are a bit polluted by the rotation.

Poland barely made it to the next stage over Mexico. We can overanalyze why Poland qualified, but the stats don't lie. Szczesny outdid himself in the first games scoring a whopping 76 points on average.

GK	​Wojciech Szczęsny	76 points
DEF	Theo Hernandez	​100 in two games
DEF	Dayot Upalecano	82 in two games
MID	​Aurélien Tchouaméni	62 points
MID	Adrien Rabiot	76 in two games
FW	Antoine Griezman	87 in two games
​FW	Kylian Mbappé	​81 in two games

Japan - Croatia (Monday 5/12)

The runner-up from last year has made it out of the group phase. Croatia already has a lot of World Cup experience. Despite its short existence (since 1992), the team managed to qualify for (almost) all World Cups. Impressive. After a real remontada against Spain, Japan won the so-called group of death. Advancing to the 1/8th finals of two World Cups in a row, Japan had never managed that before. For those who did not pay attention. Japan won against Germany and Spain.

GK	Dominik Livaković	62 points
DEF	Joško Gvardiol	65 points
MID	Luka Modric	60 points
MID	Mateo Kovačić	​74 in two games

Morocco - Spain (Tuesday 6/12)

Spain crawls through the eye of a needle being virtually eliminated for a while but still qualifies for the eighth finals. Together with Croatia, Spain's midfield has been impressive and loads of years younger, although sometimes a bit nonchalant. Marocco seems to have their shit in order with the new coach. They have the home advantage as Marocco has a lot of natives living in the region. A good mix between old and young, experience and enthusiasm, and that enthusiasm spans to major cities in Europe.

​DEF	Hakimi	83 points
DEF	Rodri	64 points
DEF	​Aymeric Laporte	62 in two games
DEF	Jordi Alba	75 points
MID	Hakim Ziyech	61 points
FW	Álvaro Morata	69 points

Portugal - Swiss (Tuesday 6/12)

For Portugal whose World Cup narrative has so far been crafted by the controversy and brilliance of Cristiano Ronaldo, they were thru the first phase with two quick wins and the possibility to rotate in their last game. After a game with a lot of tension and emotions running high. Switzerland has qualified for the next round and draw the strong team Portugal but manageable.

DEF	Raphaël Guerreiro	61 in two games
​FOR	Bruno Fernandes	71 in two games

Brasil - South-Korea Emotions all over the place. It's the World Cup that just keeps on giving. South Korea managed to get thru the group phase with a late goal against Portugal. This has suddenly turned into a brilliant World Cup for the Asian representatives. Japan, South Korea, and Australia all through.

With the political animosities that Brasil faces the last few months, a World Cup might be the only thing that can bring the country together. Brazil’s fast start, with two straight victories in the group stage, has been a promising sign.

DEF	Kim Jin-Su	61 points